This chapter discusses some issues that were not finished when ANSI/ISA-88.01 went to press. You've heard the expression, "It's time to kill the engineers and get on with production." The same is true for standards stop work and sell the product. Things that don't work can be fixed later. Well, now is later, and it's time to fix some things.

If you believe that standards committees are infallible and that the present 88.01 represents perfection itself, then read no further in this chapter. Your belief will be tested, but this book does not represent itself as the One True Way nor does it promise enlightenment.

The discussions in this chapter are here to make you think about alternatives to the way things are presented in 88. You are encouraged to use what works for you if you find something in the standard that will not work in your case, but only after you've tried to make it work. Be aware that vendors use 88 to design their next systems, so please write to ISA Standards and Practices if you find something that doesn't work for you.

Implementations may be used as examples in the following discussions, but they are for clarification of the concept, not specification of the only way to do it. This chapter does not alter 88.01. Nothing changes in 88 until SP88 comes to consensus and says it is changed. The standard is overdue for its five-year revision.